This thread will be used for three purposes. 1) All OOC nitter-natter.2) Dice-roll information and game-relevant information I choose to share with the players, as well as character information.3) Expressions of Interest for later participation from others in Strolen's Citadel.

I have already organised the starter players for this game:Murometz,Dozus, Echomirage, and pending some confirmation, Wulfere!

Currently, this is the maximum amount of people I am comfortable with starting with, however slots may open up in the future of the game (if it survives past page 1 ) for additional players. This is where the Expressions of Interest come in:If anyone is interested in participating in this game down the track, feel free to put your name down in this thread for consideration, and if I decide the game could use another player or two, I may choose from those interested. This may not be for some time, however.

I'm using Pathfinder as a launching pad for this game, and classes and races will be made from the 'core' classes and races of that game. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/)However, the game won't be strictly following the rules of pathfinder. I will be focusing much more on the 'storytelling' aspect of the game, rather than rules and regulations. I will, however, perform rolls from time to time to give that 'gambling' aspect.I'm going to try and divide the game up into reasonable sized chapters, perhaps with a small break between each chapter so players aren't inundated with a never-ending game.

Finally, although I will be basing this game within the lands of Decathros, I will be making many 'creative liberties' with the lands to make them more suitable for this particular game, so if something doesn't make sense with the area as you know it, this is probably why.

The Originator's SlumberChapter 1: Sinking in SoglashOur game will start off in the land of Voskinsar, towards the north of Decathros, and just south of the Spiked Sea.

Welcome to Soglash

A town built over the rubble and rot of failed buildings before it. Soglash was originally built as shacks scattered along the ground, but as unnaturally high tides, wet weather and hurricanes took their toll on the buildings and drowned it again and again, the folk of Soglash learned their lesson. They began building their town as a massive, extended wooden dock suspended on hard-wood stilts over both the water and land. A rotting town of misery and shady dealings, is Soglash. A sanctuary for thieves, pirates and those who wish to be forgotten, or to forget. It is reputed that anything can be bought or sold in Soglash, for the right price.

Soglash does not have any official ruling caste; the only people who have the most influence are those who have money and the influence or fear factor to hold onto it. Pirate lords; Mob bosses; even Assassins who nobody would dare steal from are the most influential people in town. To get power in Soglash you must either have the money to pay someone to do dirty work for you, or be the one willing to do the dirty work yourself.

Murometz has offered to be my launching board for the games starter campaign, and as such, he gets this flavour pre-game text!

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Helgkhor:Talu, an old friend, had called for your presence to Hulan; the only real city on Saulkement in The Spiked Sea, and a place you had never before been. In his letter he was vague, but he spoke for a dire need of a brave soul, and also made hints at large sums of gold as a reward for answering the call.

An icy chill greeted you as you found yourself in Hulan - odd, since it was normally a pleasant temperature year-round due to the favour of the weeping god, Saulke. Talu met with you at the docks and you exchanged pleasantries and small-talk while he led you to the house of noble design and ushered you inside. Once in, the vibe changed from pleasant to grim, however. He introduced you to an enigmatic, young noble woman; Rachel the 5th, she was called, and she got straight down to business.

"Disaster has fallen upon our land, Helgkhor. In the midst of night, nine days ago, our beloved Favorim was kidnapped! We know not how it happened; even Saulke himself keeps a close watch on her, and to blind him is no easy task! You noticed, I assume, the chill wind on the air? I work to console our weary God, but I am not the Favorim and I cannot keep his interests forever. If the Favorim is not found and returned within perhaps Six weeks, I fear the land will have turned to ice, and the people of Saulkement will be chilled to death. I cannot trust this matter into the hands of our own, as if word gets out, the panic may cause chaos in our society! Talu is a dear friend of mine, and he has told me that you are of a reliable sort - even if you are not from here. I trust his judgement." Rachel sighed, "I am not without contacts in neighbouring lands, and my sources told me of three men in black garments arriving on a small boat on the shores of Soglash with a woman in ropes. I beseech you; go to Voskinsar. Find these people. Find our Favorim and bring her back!"Rachel passed a small sack of coin to you, "This is to get you started. Oh, and I suggest you find two or three other good folk to help you in your journey - I will pay anyone who helps you; there must be more to this than a simple kidnapping!"

Rachel the 5th ushered you out the door with nary even time to say goodbye to Talu, and you found yourself back on a boat, heading to the town of Soglash in Voskinsar; a town of ill-repute and shady dealings. Two things were on your mind. First, how can help be found in a town such as this, and second; just what did these people want with the Favorim?"

The purse holds 10 thick, square coins of gold stamped with a teardrop design - the weight of them together is worth one hundred gold pieces.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Muro did a couple rolls for his post, so i'll put 'em here. Though in future, i'll probably cut back on the amount of rolls needed I will wait for everyone to have a chance to post before I post replies and continue on.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

I've been mulling something around my head and have a question for the players:

Would you be interested in me creating a separate ooc thread or even ic thread to post non-essential interactions with each other, that you may not have gotten a chance to have as the game moves forward?

For example, I intend on moving the game upstairs when I post later, but wulfere and dozus's character may I have conversations and questions that will get left out. That way we can post game info and actions into the main thread, and have additional interactions, character building and flavour text in the other thread. It may help stop games getting derailed, too. The flavour text thread would be an optional thing to post in, and if you want to post in it, just mention at the start of the post where you are in game and who you are talking to.

So for example, a post in the character building thread may go something like this, posting as though I were Dozus:

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on the road between soglash and the border of VoskinsarAtacuso spent much of the time separated from the party, scouting ahead as he took in the lay of the land. One night though, while the campfire was blazing steadily, he sat down next to korchel and watched the dwarf for a while as he peered in the flames. " That sparking trick you did back in town was pretty impressive... Where did you learn to do that?"

That's just a poor example, obviously. Thoughts? Suggestions? Or should I just have the one thread?

Hmmm, can't decide to be honest, if i like the idea. It seems a good one in the sense that the game would keep moving, without being bogged down with conversations, and it would allow one to post all thoughts, questions, streams of consciousness and such to one's hearts content. On the other hand, if something "good" goes in the other thread, it would seem to me that its being wasted there? And then the more that goes in there, makes the actual game thread somewhat sterile?

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Yeah, it will have to be for tidbits of into. The plus side is that its not something i have to moderate heavily as gm. I'll see what everyone elses thought on this is. Also, i could put it up as a trial and delete it if it doesn't get used. The best feature i can see for it is the whole time lapse thong; you can carry on that combo in the tavern long after you've left it in the main game :p may help build your character relationships.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

While I see its purpose, I wonder at what point it would be too much to deal with. What if we get halfway through Act I of the campaign and someone decides to rehash a conversation that happened weeks earlier? I wonder if it could turn into a whole ret-con thing.

That's at the extreme end, of course. I'm not totally opposed to it. I like good character build-up and all. But as with all good things, I would exercise caution in its overuse.

I think we'll be fine without a separate thread for side conversations or things that were missed. If we want to post something like that but don't immediately have time, we can post a "keeper post" to fill later (e.g.: "Flatto and Sporks talk about orcish cuisine. To be posted later."). We can also mark some posts as flashbacks: "15 Minutes earlier, on the Trail with Flatto..."

There's also nothing preventing us from placing entertaining or illuminating footnotes with our posts (e.g.: "Flatto and Sporks are cousins by marriage. They don't realize that they are also half-brothers.")

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Actually, that's not all. Once again, a reply will be made after work in about 8 hours :p after today, I may have some difficulty posting as the kids arrive tomorrow, and we may be going away with them for the weekend. I'll still try and post, but just warning youu may not get a gm post until Sunday (Australia time).

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

I'm not sure how everyone else would do it, but i'd like to show you how i'm handling fights and such. I won't normally show it to you guys - it's just for my background info. I have two text files handy, one for Player HP/encounters, and one for Enemy HP/encounters. They read like this:

The first number of each line is the HP of the enemy or player. I'd always put the number there even if they haven't changed HP. After that number is what happens to the character, and then the next line's hp number is the result of that. As you can see, i've put the roll results I made down for the spells and damage and such. I didn't put AC rolls and whatnot down (cos I forgot to add them ) just the resulting damage that was done, but I did put the DC of Aredhel's color spray (Base DC 10 + 1 for spell level + 4 for int mod!) And as you can see Balic did genuinely resist it :p

As for the player HP and such, I've just put how much damage was done and whatnot (again, cos I forgot to put down the roll info! Sometimes i'll remember, other times i'll forget )

So as you can see, i've taken some creative license (I have no idea if 15-20 minutes passed from the boat ride should give Helgkhor another HP, but dammit he can have one! :p ). I'm making the game my own, and things may not go strictly in accordance with pathfinder.

I just felt like sharing with you all how i'm handling this game, and to let you all know that i'm genuinely making those rolls for you, not just leaving it up to chance (although sometimes I may augment those rolls slightly for the sake of the story!). I hope you guys like the way i'm doing this, because if not, too bad!

So yeah, as I said, I won't normally post this kind of info, I just wanted to show you how it's going down. I'll probably post HP from time to time, because it would prolly be good for you guys to know just how battered you all are!

If there's a good day's travel or sleep, i'll usually reset your HP to full, unless you're really low, in which case i'll decide on a case-by-case basis how much you recover.

Finally, this game is about the story, not the rolls. I urge you all not to worry too much about the numbers, and enjoy the game for what it is!

Honestly, I just copied one of the monsters i had in my gm starter pathfinder book and used some of its stats - just a city guard, CR 1. I figured low level humanoid type, generic town-dweller, it's the kind of low-challenge type mob I wanted.

Hmm... I think someone rigged my dice - you all got crazy good rolls this post! Even Korchel failing his save against hurting himself on the glass only took 1 damage - I wanted to teach him a lesson about breaking through thick glass, but I guess he sure showed me!

Well... Vanth was going to keep you all busy for an extra round, but Muro foiled my plans. He did a ridiculous WHOPPING 33 damage with his 2h greatsword plus barbarian rage PLUS he CRIT, so add another damage roll onto THAT!. and after Dozus's succesful arrow hit (7 damage!) that took poor Vanth down to -22 (He was just a grunt, unlike the other two.) I felt that the way he died was the only proper description I could give for such a massive negative HP drop, short of him just turning into liquid human.